Multiple Video Streams

[CthulhuSaves]

Hiya,


I'm working on a project and could use a little help.

It's not something often seen, for obvious reasons, but I've found a reason where I'd actually want to have multiple video streams in the same file. Simply put, I'm wanting to combine the B&W and Colorized versions of a film into one, B&W = video stream 1, Colorized = video stream 2. Afterwards I'd be inserting multiple audio streams, too (raw, commentary1, commentary2, etc). I think I can handle the audio portion, but don't know how to merge the two videos.

So, my questions are:

1. Suggested software that supports this function?

2. Would it be advisable to simply remove any audio streams first, or is that redundant?

Naturally any videos I'd be working with (most commonly AVIs) would be of the same FPS and dimensions (although that's an interesting thought, whether different video streams have to be the same resolution...)

Any comments are appreciated.

[guns1inger]

DVD supports this with right authoring tools.

The only other formats I can think of that might do what you want are M2TS and MKV, but I haven't tried either, and I am not sure what playback support would be like. MKV is the most flexible, as M2TS only supports a small number of video and audio formats. I suspect that you will have to match video specs in both clips though.

[CthulhuSaves]

Yeah, just to clarify, I'm referring to a single video file being the desired output, not a VOB DVD. I had thought AVI could handle multiple video streams (in fact, I swear I just read that yesterday on a page explaining "AVI Myths" or something like that, --a site explaining all the stuff AVI supprts that people commonly say or assume it doesn't). I suppose I could go with MKV if I had to, but would prefer to use AVI for simplicity's sake, if it will work.

[Ai Haibara]

You're probably thinking of this page: http://www.alexander-noe.com/video/amg/en_myths.html

AVI can only handle 1 or 2 audio streams: Totally wrong. A few people who think to write container comparisons still believe this, or even write such disinformation in order to make up advantages of OGM that do not exist, although even the original AVI file specification supports 256 streams (no matter how many of them are audio or video), and although AVI-Mux GUI has been able to create AVI files with multiple audio streams for years

(that last bit of emphasis and the slight paraphrasing mine (well, I can't quote HTML tables, anyway... )

[CthulhuSaves]

Yep, that's the one.

But that's not where I first got the idea, just something supporting it. I noticed that VLC has an identical menu under Video for changing the stream # that you're watching as it does under Audio for changing audio tracks. That's when I realized it was possible in general. The page you quoted was just something that implied it's possible with an AVI container.

[Cornucopia]

I'm working on an app just for this purpose, but in the meantime (it'll take a while since I'm VERY rusty as a programmer), I suggest you use Graphedit. With that app (and the old AVIMux 0.4), I've done many dual-video-stream muxes just like what you're talking about (for Stereo3D).

In fact, the Fuji W1 and W3 cameras RECORD their stereo3D video in JUST such a format (dual-muxed AVI).

Good luck - let me know if you need any pointers,

Scott

[ale5000]

MKVtoolnix can mux multiple video in one file, I'm referring to separate video tracks (not stereo 3D) that they can be also with different resolutions, but the problem is playback, with the Haali splitter you can choose the video track from the tray icon and you are fine but in other cases it will display both videos at the same time.

[Cornucopia]

MKVtoolnix can mux multiple video in one file, I'm referring to separate video tracks (not stereo 3D) that they can be also with different resolutions, but the problem is playback, with the Haali splitter you can choose the video track from the tray icon and you are fine but in other cases it will display both videos at the same time.

The stereo 3d I was referring to WAS separate tracks or separate streams within the same track. In this sense, stereo3d is really just a special case of generic dual- or multiple-stream video. There's nothing saying they can't have different parameters (size, framerate, codec, etc). A Good player should be able to handle them all and keep sync.
It is possible with AVI, MOV MKV, MPG, MP4, and WMV containers. (I've tested them all).

Scott